Karanataka Current Affairs

Karnataka Government has constituted a nine-member committee to study the possibility of designing a separate state flag and providing it a statutory standing.

It will be headed by Principal Secretary, Department of Kannada and Culture. It shall submit report to the state Government after looking into required possibilities.

Background

The committee was constituted following representation of social activists from the state urged the government to design a separate flag for Kannada ‘naadu’ and accord statutory standing for it.

Constitutional and legal position of State having its own flag

There is no prohibition in the Constitution for the State to have its own flag. Even there is no separate central or state law dealing with issue. So, legally it can be said that state flag is not unauthorised. Jammu and Kashmir is only state having separate flag of its own due to special status granted by Article 370 of the Constitution.

At present, the national flag code specifically authorises use of other flags subject to the regulation by the court. It does not mention anything about separate state flag. However, it clearly mentions that the manner in which the other flag is hoisted should not dishonour the national flag. It has to be always below the national flag. Thus, if states have separate flag, it should be hoisted in such a way that it does not dishonour the national flag.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Pravasi Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PKVY), a skill development program targeted at Indian youth seeking overseas employment to make India the Skill Capital of the World.

It was launched after inauguration of 14th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas convention at India’s IT hub Bengaluru, Karnataka. Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa was the Chief Guest of the event.

Key Facts

PKVY will provide training and certify Indians who are seeking overseas employment in selected sectors that have high demand in the global labour market in line with international standards.

It will be implemented by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) through its training partners and in consultation with the Union Ministry of External Affairs and the Union Skill Development Ministry.

It also aims at boosting the confidence of the Indian youth so that they don’t feel like strangers when they land in a country of their choice for vocation.

For this purpose, NSDC will leverage various MoUs it signed between 2011 and 2015 with different agencies of Germany, Canada, Australia, Singapore, UK, US, European Union, France, Iran and China.